Review – The Ruby Kiss By Helen Scott Taylor

A Powerful Nightstalker: Nightshade hungers to bring the strong and beautiful to their knees beneath the ecstasy of his bite, but he has never known sexual lust--not until he meets Ruby McDonald. The curvy redhead wields attitude and strength like an ax and she would be the perfect mother of his children. Caught in a clash between the Seelie and Unseelie courts, he battles not only for her survival but also for her heart.

A Mortal with a Secret: Plagued by magic inherited from a father she never knew, Ruby wants answers. Nightshade has them. But when he crashes into her bedroom late one night, the Fairy's silvery eyes, dark intensity, and striking black wings tempt her with a whole lot more: a mysterious world waiting to be explored, a dangerous love that binds her in body, mind, and spirit, and the children she thought she could never have. The future offers her a choice between freedom and a power some would kill to possess. Should she deny her desires, or succumb to the seduction of...THE RUBY KISS

Review:

Ruby MacDonald has not lived what anyone could consider a normal life. Having been told by her mother that her father was an Angel, and then watching her mother spend her life searching for that angel, has left Ruby with a strong desires to put down roots and live a normal life. That is until a handsome fairy named Nightshade comes crashing through her roof to land in her bed. Ruby is the first female Nightshade has ever felt an attraction for, and he lets her know of his desire to create a son with her. This was not music to her ears and she sends the fairy packing. This is just the beginning of Ruby’s adventure with Nightshade. It seems that her father wasn’t an angel at all, but a Hunter for the Seelie court, and daddy now wants his little girl’s powers for himself. Hopefully Nightshade doesn’t hold a grudge.

The Ruby Kiss was much more than what I expected when I began to read this story. With layers and layers of story arcs and multiple shades of grey to character motivations, this book was a slingshot into a world of magic and treachery. I just loved Nightshade in this book. He was such a puzzle for me, I just couldn’t get a handle on who he really was because he kept surprising me. There was an absolutely delicious hint of bi-sexuality to his character that drove me insane, though the sneaky fairy kept me guessing through the entire book. I loved the story and the hero, I loved the returning characters, heck I even liked the quasi-villain Twister. The story was expertly crafted, easily capturing and holding my attention until the last page. The emotional range was immense, taking me from laughter to heartbreak in a tumultuous ride. The world created in this series was very detailed and I became immersed in the fantasy quickly. The heroine Ruby was my only sore point. A great many of the mishaps that occurred to the protagonists happened due to something she did or didn’t do. This was a bit frustrating and really almost had me pushing Nightshade in Troy’s direction. She did claim her heroine status in the end and redeemed herself rather nicely. I am still on pins and needles about several of the background characters, so future books in this world are absolutely on my “must read” list. Here’s a hearty thumbs up for a job well done.